We were soon on our way to the Oleto River State Park in North Miami which was the only bit of green space that we could find to spend our last day away from the crowds and perhaps do some walking. We entered the street into Garmin and ended up at a residential street which didn't look right somehow. We asked some locals where this place was but they only spoke Spanish! We had an electronic copy of the brochure so checked the street number which didn't turn up on Garmin so we aimed for the nearest one and eventually found our way to the park. The park website made no mention of a charge but $6 was cheap for all day parking with facilities. The area for parking cars was absolutely huge with numerous picnic huts with BBQs. We had hoped to find somewhere for a coffee but we could find nothing apart from a kayak hire place. We wandered around for a while until lunchtime - a most pleasant oasis of calm. We then selected one of the picnic places and enjoyed lunch by the water hoping to catch sight of a manatee but no such luck. There were several mountain bike trails leading from a large track which we walked along for a while in the shade, beside mangroves.
We had to throw away the remainder of the lunch and what would have been breakfast items - where are the homeless when you need them? We then walked around the cycle tracks for a bit until we could delay no longer to get changed. It seemed odd to be back in long sleeved tops, jeans and shoes/socks! We piled into the car, turned on the aircon and drove to the airport. There is a separate building for hire car return as it is such a huge operation and very slick with staff checking in cars in just a few seconds! We then staggered some way for the railcar to the actual airport building and then to check in, where we were horrified to find that the flight had been delayed until after 23:00 (from 20:25)!!! We were each given a $9 `light refreshments' voucher - so generous! This meant that we had to sit around for hours and hours and to cap it all there was no wi-fi. Les recalled that it was a very naff airport 30 years ago, and it still is.
We spent a couple of hours downing beers and having a "light" snack - we had to leave most of it as it was largely carbs - it was classed as a Cuban sandwich but was just an ordinary toasted filled roll with.....chips - very nice but we could really have done with a salad knowing we will be fed again when we board. Why does nearly everything come with fries here?
We grabbed a coffee, typed the blog and were generally bored. Most of the airport had closed by then - shops, cafes etc and we had to get through security by 9:30 pm otherwise they go home too!!! We wandered through security (as usual no signs as to what to take off so you get sent back to do it again!) and sat with the other disgruntled passengers waiting for the plane to arrive and then get cleaned. Profuse apologies from BA again, a letter confirming the delay (might be useful for travel insurance?) and the offer of soda, ie fizzy drinks, as everywhere had now closed. Eventually boarded and were on our way after 11pm and were lucky enough to have a spare seat beside us. We think this belonged to someone paged a number of times and then told their bag would be offloaded.
We did not feel like eating at midnight and the meal itself wasn't very appetising - dry roll, vege ravioli (the cabin staff thought it was lasagne!) and very sweet lemon cake. We then tried to get some sleep with frequent shaking from the plane and the usual cacophony of noises from those around. Somehow the time passed and breakfast arrived - again not very inspiring and all on the sweet side - a dry croissant, cereal bar and small packet of cranberries. Preparation for landing seemed to take ages as we circled around southern England and although the pilot advised it would be a bit bumpy, nothing prepared us for the shaking, up/down motion and at times dropping through the air!!! The worst final approach we have experienced, through the tail end of a major storm apparently. Safely on the ground we had a minor wait whilst a parking space was made available for the aircraft, and our taxi driver was waiting for us, having monitored the arrival time for our flight. A quick trip home - at last!!!
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